BlueTech create successful Lenovo ‘Smarter Technology for All’ event in Beirut
A successful ‘Smarter Technology for All’ evening event was recently held at the Arthaus Hotel in Gemayzeh, Beirut by the BlueTech and Lenovo teams. Taking place on September 26, the event included presentations on the Lenovo story and a sales enablement session on the latest Lenovo products as well as networking after the event.
Telling the Lenovo story at the Arthaus Hotel in Gemayzeh, Beirut. Photo credit – BlueTech
Charles Nacouzi, Lenovo Sales Manager and Roni Mazraany, Lenovo General Manager, LENA, presented the company background and the latest product news. Backing them up from BlueTech were Toni Azzi – General Manager for Mindware/Bluetech, Bachir Dahdah – Territory Manager Mindware/Bluetech and Imad Al Adem – Lenovo Sales Manager, Bluetech.
When the presentations finished, it was time to relax and network. Photo credit – BlueTech
More about BlueTech
BlueTech is a technology distributor boutique, specialized in providing end-to-end technology advisory solutions for its business partners in more than 30 countries across the Levant, Gulf and Africa regions. As a strategic and focused distributor for IBM and Lenovo for more than 20 years, BlueTech Holding serves its partners through five subsidiaries expanding in Lebanon, Jordan as well as in UAE, and North, West and Central Africa. BlueTech Holding capitalizes on their international experience to serve business partners locally.
Midis Group leaders featured prominently in GITEX Global 2022 interviews
During GITEX Global, publications featured the best and most insightful thinkers in the technology industry. Three prominent Midis Group leaders, Toni El Inati, Demes Strouthos and Robert Nehme have been interviewed in two online magazines, GITEX Tech Vision and Security Review. Below we include brief summaries of what our key leaders have been talking about at GITEX Global 2022.
Toni El Inati – latest email, Cloud and Network security innovations from Barracuda
Toni El Inati: Hi-Tech Cybersecurity solutions need to have usability at the core. Photo credit – Barracuda Networks
Toni El Inati, RVP Sales, META and CEE, used his interview in the GITEX Tech Vision supplement for 2022 to outline, first, the new solutions from Barracuda, and then to make the point that Hi-Tech solutions need to have usability at the core. El Inati explores recent launches from the company including its Cloud-to-Cloud Backup solution, the new Data Center service in South Africa, and new products based on Zero Trust thinking like Barracuda’s Cloud Gen Access and also the Email Protection product, which builds upon Microsoft 365 foundations.
Toni El Inati was also interviewed about GITEX 2022 by Security Review. Here, Toni talked about the core simplicity at the heart of many Barracuda solutions: “while these solutions enable businesses to effectively protect against a wide range of cyber-attacks, the common feature they all share is simplicity and effectiveness. As cyber threats grow in sophistication, and as IT environments become increasingly complex, it is this message of simplicity that we have found resonates strongly with our customers and prospects.” Read more of Toni’s interview with Security Review here.
Demes Strouthos – with our refreshed line of business products organizations can be sure of running their networks smoothly and securely
Demes Strouthos. Photo credit – ESET ME
Demes Strouthos – General Manager of ESET Middle East – explained in this interview the rationale behind the ever-growing, market-leading suite of products and services from the company. Demes outlined how ESET Inspect Cloud enables the ESET Protect platform to evolve into an Extended Detection and Response (XDR) solution for enterprise-grade security and risk management capability.
Robert Nehme – Match the Enterprise cloud model to the right cybersecurity solution
Robert Nehme: businesses must keep their whole tech landscape secure. Photo credit – GITEX Tech Vision supplement
Robert Nehme – Cybersecurity Division Manager at MDS UAE – clarified in his interview in GITEX Tech Vision 2022 about the key need for businesses to secure their cloud environment along with the whole technology landscape – from office and home desk to server space and data security. “Cloud suppliers do take protecting data seriously, but they aren’t responsible for your businesses’ applications, servers and data security and customers should invest and take care of their own environment.”
BlueTech joins IBM System & Software Partner event in Senegal to share overview of new solutions
Members of the BlueTech technical team joined colleagues from IBM Systems & Software at the King Fahd Palace Hotel in Dakar, Senegal, to offer partners an overview of new solutions on the horizon. The meeting was the one of the first face-to-face events in the francophone African countries for the industry since pre-COVID days.
The event, on September 20, was aimed at IBM Partners in Senegal with others coming from Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea. In the morning session, the IBM team presented about power and storage systems, followed by a session on data AI from IBM and on security by Lynn Aoude, Pre Sales Consultant from BlueTech. The afternoon period was completed by a presentation on IBM TSS (services).
The IBM technical team were joined by experts from BlueTech in presentations to Partners from across the Central African nations. Photo credit – BlueTech
A BlueTech company spokesperson thanked all present for making the event such a success. “Thank you to all IBM and BlueTech Technical Teams for animating this event and sharing an overview of the new solutions that IBM System & Software has to offer – also, a big thanks goes to all our partners from Senegal and all the partners coming all the way from Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali. Without you it wouldn’t have been the same!”
Badrane Kaddour, Africa Growth Market Partner Ecosystem Leader at IBM, said this on his LinkedIn profile about the event “Thanks to our VAD Mindware (BlueTech) for the excellent organization and thanks to all our business partners for their active participation and the valuable discussion we had together with them and their invited customers.”
Members of the IBM and BlueTech teams and the Partners gather after the Dakar event. Photo credit – BlueTech
More about BlueTech
BlueTech is a technology distributor boutique, specialized in providing end-to-end technology advisory solutions for its business partners in more than 30 countries across the Levant, Gulf and Africa regions. As a strategic and focused distributor for IBM and Lenovo for more than 20 years, BlueTech Holding serves its partners through five subsidiaries expanding in Lebanon, Jordan as well as in UAE, and North, West and Central Africa. BlueTech Holding capitalizes on its international experience to serve business partners locally. In November 2020, BlueTech added Autodesk to its portfolio and solution offering for the African market.
BlueTech successfully delivers major AutoDesk event program across Francophone Africa
BlueTech successfully delivered a major AutoDesk customer and partner program across four countries in Francophone Africa during June 2022. The BlueTech and AutoDesk teams visited Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Ivory Coast from June 13 to 28, travelling thousands of miles to welcome new customers and partners face to face.
According to those present, the roadshow was very beneficial for the audience thanks to the presence of the AutoDesk and the BlueTech technical teams. From AutoDesk, Stéphane Balmain, AEC Technical Sales Southern Europe & North Africa and Nabil Nougha, AEC Technical Sales Middle East & North Africa, and from BlueTech, Abdelmadjid Siab AEC/MFG Technical consultant, Africa.
Algeria
The BlueTech and AutoDesk tour began in Algeria on June 13 with 15 public sector and private clients and partners at a morning and afternoon event at the Sofitel in Algiers. The agenda included presentations about AutoDesk Digital Solutions and construction infrastructure solutions.
In Tunisia, 28 attendees in total were welcomed across a range of public and private sectors. Photo credit – AutoDesk/BlueTech
Tunisia
In Tunisia, the AutoDesk event took place at the Sheraton hotel over two days, with morning and afternoon sessions welcoming a range of public and private sector organizations, with 14 attendees in each session. Partner company ST21 co-presented in the morning, with Avensys team members presenting in the afternoon. Governmental organizations present included the State Minister, Ministry of Equipment, Chemistry group and more.
The second day of the Tunisian event involved two customer visits, with an additional visit having taken place before the main day of presentations, led by Abelmadjid Siab from BlueTech.
Feedback was very positive from customers, and they asked to do more events in the future. Several customer agreements were also concluded successfully.
In Morocco, the teams presented over three days to public and private sector clients; attendees included delegates from Ivory Coast and Senegal. Photo credit – AutoDesk/BlueTech
Morocco
From June 21 to 23, the touring presenters moved to the Four Seasons Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco, where day one was a Partner’s Day, day two given over to public sector colleagues, and day three aimed at important private sector customers and partners. The first event welcomed five partners from Morocco, one group from Ivory Coast and one group from Senegal, with 24 people present on that day. Radhouane Bader, Channel Development Manager in Francophone Africa from AutoDesk coordinated the event, and there was a very good session for partners about compliance, an accreditation program and the different AutoDesk tools. In the afternoon partners gave feedback about the business and shared their experiences.
On day two, 15 public sector participants attended, and the day was led by BlueTech’s partner company Robobat. There was good interaction with the participants, especially during the Q&A session. Day three was all about the private sector, with 22 participants and presentations from BlueTech’s partner Geodata. Some major Moroccan AutoDesk accounts were present including Ventec, Jesa and TGCC. The presence of the technical team was very beneficial for the audience, and the overall appreciation was very positive.
26 delegates attended the Ivory Coast event during morning and afternoon sessions. Photo credit – AutoDesk/BlueTech
Ivory Coast
The team then moved down south to Ivory Coast, and the Radisson Blu in Abidjan on June 28, where two successful events took place on the same day. 15 participants were present in the morning including leaders from the construction industry including the Presidency Institution, BNEDT, Port Autonome d’Abidjan, and AERIA. The morning session was led by presentations from regional partner Genesis.
After lunch, the afternoon session attracted 11 private sector participants and Radhouane Bader animated the event. There was a debate around the implementation of BIM & BIM Mandate in Ivory Coast. This was followed up by three customer visits in the following days which successfully developed customer relationships and deals.
More about BlueTech
BlueTech is a technology distributor boutique, specialized in providing end-to-end technology advisory solutions for its business partners in more than 30 countries across the Levant, Gulf and Africa regions. As a strategic and focused distributor for IBM and Lenovo for more than 20 years, BlueTech Holding serves its partners through five subsidiaries expanding in Lebanon, Jordan as well as in UAE, and North, West and Central Africa. BlueTech Holding capitalizes on their international experience to serve business partners locally. In November 2020, BlueTech added Autodesk to its portfolio and solution offering for the African market.
MDSap implements Incorta to help HepsiJet master Black Friday opportunities in Turkey
MDSap has worked with logistics company HepsiJet, a subsidiary of one of Turkey’s leading e-commerce platforms, Hepsiburada, to help the group master data and customer supply challenges involved annually on ‘Black Friday’ or ‘Legendary Friday’ as it is known in some countries.
With tens of thousands of customers and seven operation centers, 172 shipping points and 16 transfer centers in Turkey’s 81 cities, HepsiJet is expanding its distribution region and service range day by day. HepsiJet CTO Deniz Tosun stated that: “Logistics is an area which processes must be measured at every stage. The reason is that if you do not solve the problem in one stage, it will snowball through the following stages. Therefore, it is very important for us to measure KPIs and take appropriate action.”
To get to grips with this, the company implemented a Logistics Tracking Project to measure every part of the logistics shipment processes. As a solution, MDSap implemented Incorta, a single integrated platform for data collection, storage, analysis, visualization and reporting. MDSap is Incorta’s distributor in the EMEA region. HepsiJet had their own tracking tool already in use on the reporting side but when the company met with MDSap, they realized their own solution had limitations in processing data instantly and in high-scale data processing.
Keeping everything moving is key in the e-commerce business. Photo Credit – HepsiJet
“That is why we decided to work with Incorta” said Deniz Tosun. “Our main objective was to manage Black Friday without mistakes, to create reports that will enable us to make strategic decisions quickly and accurately, and to complete our operation perfectly by taking instant action according to these reports. It was very valuable to be able to implement the project in four weeks. We were very pleased with Incorta’s ability to respond to the project, provide a POV quickly in four weeks and respond to industry dynamics. Time to market is vital to us. I can say that we are very satisfied with the project due to the basic features of the product and MDSap competence in Incorta.”
MDSap Turkey Sales Manager Aykut Koç suggested changes to the business landscape have increased the pressure on how e-commerce companies like Hepsiburada operate: “e-commerce volume, which has been increasing with the effect of the pandemic, has reached a much more critical level for companies serving in the field during special campaign periods such as ‘Legendary Friday’. The fact that Incorta offers an agile working environment and that the technical teams and business units work in harmony has been one of the most important factors in realizing this value-added project.”
“Thanks to Incorta, ‘Legendary Friday’ in which intense operational activities occur, especially in the e-commerce sector, was successfully managed. HepsiJet and MDSap teams succeeded in making the project active in only four weeks” said Aykut Koç.
Deniz Tosun continued to cite MDSap and Incorta as a major factor in the success of the project. “The MDSap team understood our business needs well and we acted together as a single team. We will gradually launch other features and this approach has allowed our teams to get to know Incorta. While achieving our business targets, we also increased employee satisfaction. I am very happy with the project in general; its rapid progress makes us excited about what we can do in the future. We may have to put pressure on the business to use/try new technologies as they already have their own density but, with this project, we got full buy-in especially from the operation team, who supported the product because it allowed them to become ‘Power Users’ after experiencing the features of the product.”
Now watch HepsiJet CTO Deniz Tosun talking about the project in detail in this video:
Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium excels at the core of innovative smart city project in Umag, Croatia
A case study written by Ivan Vrkljan, IT administrator based in the city of Umag on the northern coast of Croatia, has revealed the important role investing in HPE Storage can play in improving access to civic services. At the heart of the project was a pivotal relationship between the city administration, Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium and system integrator Integra Group and distributor M SAN Grupa.
The case study, titled ‘Building A Smarter City by Improving Municipal Services on Croatia’s Northern Coast’ details the steps taken by Ivan to transform services by investing in solutions like HPE Nimble Storage and HPE Infosight.
Ivan writes about the city itself – small, at just over 15,000 inhabitants, founded by the Romans, and every year host to the important ATP Croatian Open tennis tournament. The city administration know that they need to take their services online as much as possible to streamline costs and increase access. However it was clear that an IT bottleneck was delaying service response times with storage and access to data at the root of the problem.
Can a town this old – Umag was first discovered by the Romans – become a modern smart city? The case study examines efforts to do this by upgrading to intelligent connected storage systems as part of an ambitious development strategy. Photo credit – Michal Klajban, Creative Commons
Once the decision had been taken to overhaul the existing, over-capacity IT infrastructure, discussion with the IT partners identified the relevant HPE solutions and the storage upgrade project took less than two months from design to deployment with immediate positive results.
Ivan writes in the case study: “This project is also a testament to everyone at HPE’s Croatian office. I have a great relationship with their team and nothing but praise for their outstanding customer service. Whenever I’ve encountered an issue that I couldn’t fix alone or with help from Integra Group, HPE has stepped up and resolved it within 24 hours.”
According to Ivan there were clear benefits from the use of HPE Nimble Storage:
Accelerated everyday end-user tasks like service requests & report generation, reducing complex tasks to minutes instead of hours
Allowed an increase in self-service options available to citizens online
Allows more web-based applications that exploit integration between the city’s virtual machines, storage array & cloud-based infrastructure
HPE Nimble Storage allows management of the storage system from a single screen
More plans to further develop the IT infrastructure are in hand and will build purposeful links between the various solutions thus increasing the possibilities for further service improvements.
The city of Umag is clearly lucky to have an IT administrator with the strategic vision and intelligence to manage a successful digital transformation initiative. Ivan suggests that using HPE solutions and working with partners like Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium, brings other important premiums. By allowing them to consolidate IT infrastructure management, organizations are in a better position to take advantage of future innovations.
“It truly is the best of both worlds. Thanks to HPE, I have the backing of an international technology giant and personalized service at the regional level,” writes Ivan Vrkljan.
More about Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium and project partners
Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium is part of the Midis Group. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is in partnership with Selectium to help customers and partners accelerate business outcomes. Integra Group d.o.o. is Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium’s Solution Partner, offering services and solutions for IT infrastructure. Integra Group d.o.o. implements business solutions and automate processes in order to increase the efficiency of individual processes. M SAN Grupa is a distributor of HPE products and solutions, and one of the major Croatian IT companies.
Rami El Sabeh interviewed about Blockchain and his participation at the BSV Global Blockchain convention
Rami El Sabeh is a key part of the team at Midis Group HQ in Lebanon, keeping IT wheels going round for the whole Group. One of the reasons for the distinctive business approach that marks out Midis Group from the competition is that they encourage individual innovation and thinking at every level. Rami has excelled at this with his research into Blockchain technologies and how they might fit into our everyday business and possibly one day become a major growth factor. In this interview, we asked Rami to tell us more about how he came to explore this exciting technology, and also more about the global context and prospects for Blockchain.
Q: Can you give us a brief overview of your experience and work with Midis? When did you start at the Group? What did you do before this, and what did you study at college?
I currently occupy the position of IT Operation and QA Lead within Midis Group, where my team’s primary objective is to provide Midis’ 170 affiliates quality tech services in order to expand their collaboration, compliance and security through the use of Midis Group IT-managed services. I started with the group in March 2018; my previous experience was as a senior technology engineer with one of the biggest construction enterprises, CCC, for almost nine years. I was executing and managing their IT business solutions projects in the EU, Central Asia, Africa, and Australia. Before that, I was at the City University of Seattle working as a tech engineer supporting the University IT services and completed my bachelor’s degree in computing and telecommunication. I continued earning tech qualifications with certificates in Microsoft, Virtualization, ITIL, and Blockchain. I’m currently enrolled in the MIT learning program in Blockchain Technologies: Business Innovations and Applications.
Q: What was the trigger that brought you into an interest in the Blockchain? Was it a work project or private interest?
I was always a technology enthusiast; initially, my first contact with Blockchain was around 2012 when I first heard about Bitcoin. Although I didn’t understand the logic, I started following the market of Cryptocurrency speculation, but then I realized there is much more to the technology than Cryptocurrencies. In 2017, I started my own research and enrolled in learning programs in Blockchain and fell down a rabbit hole researching how this technology will influence the future of our digital economy. My focus then shifted from how to make quick money to how this technology can positively impact societies and industries.
Q: Can you give us a quick description of Blockchain, how people perceive it nowadays and what benefits it might bring to today’s business and economy?
Blockchain is a ledger (think of it as an Excel sheet/Database) that keeps records of digital events and adds a time stamp, recording when each digital event happened. A typical digital event might be a payment, for example. The records are grouped together into data blocks that get distributed to Nodes (servers) without being bound to a single server or an entity.
Each block has an identifier, like a fingerprint, based on the records within the data block. Once a new data block is generated through a process called mining, the block links itself to the previous block and uses the previous block’s identifier as the main record within it, creating a chain of blocks linked together that makes all the records in the data blocks immutable to any change. Simple right?
In 2008 the Bitcoin Whitepaper was released by an individual or entity who was given the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, introducing Bitcoin/Blockchain technology to the world. Since then, individuals and business entities have used the Open-Source code of how the system works and started experimenting and creating thousands of different blockchains with different protocols. It’s that diversity that created the current, sometimes volatile, ‘Crypto Currency’ scene. It’s that space that is full of financial scams and speculations, where people buy a specific token/digital currency hoping for an increase in demand to be able to sell it at a higher price.
Unfortunately, that is far from what this technology was created for and its potential capabilities. In fact, Blockchain tackles problems in digital trust by securing important data through the development of a consensus mechanism in a public network where data is timestamped, de-centralized, and can be encrypted without any tampering. It offers new ways of dealing with data specifically for authentication and authorization. Smart contracts can be created to define specific agreements which enforce obligations. This could play a big role in many industries, from the public sector to supply chain, manufacturing, commerce and many more where trust is key to business growth.
The BSV Global Blockchain convention is the major world event where this new technology is explored. Three other experts were also on the panel session at the convention with Rami, who is second on the left of the group of four seen here. Photo credit – BSV Global Blockchain convention.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about the BSV convention and your participation – how did you get involved?
During my exploration of this topic, I realized the real value of Blockchain is that it can handle a lot of transactions per second, with low fees, and still maintain network security through the original Bitcoin protocol. That is when I discovered BSV Blockchain which was superior to most Blockchain protocols. I have connected myself to their ecosystem and met a lot of individuals, from engineers to developers and entrepreneurs, all focused on the same vision of how to maintain an Enterprise blockchain best suited for the requirements of the new digital economy.
The BSV Global Blockchain Convention was the third convention to take place after initial events in Zurich and New York. Being a member of the Bitcoin Association and through my experience in technology and Blockchain, I was invited as a speaker in a panel titled ‘How to Build on Blockchain: Common Challenges.’ The convention was an amazing three day experience, meeting with entrepreneurs and developers working on enterprise solutions, to learn about the evolution of the Blockchain space.
The convention tackled multiple subjects; Enterprise applications, Government initiatives, Future of Digital assets, Digital Transformation, Future of Finance, Gaming applications, Metaverse, CBDCs, IoT, Supply Chain Solutions, Entertainment, Sports, Web3.0, IPv6, Law & Regulatory compliance, Tokenizing Assets, Smart Contracts, ESG Compliance, Cyber Security and more.
Q: What developments do you think will make blockchain really become accepted by the business community?
Personally, I believe that blockchain will solve a lot of major issues in the business community. Specifically, in cybersecurity, we see industries are spending huge sums to protect their networks and systems. In fact, the whole economy is spending billions of dollars, and these investments are always with no returns – it is being spent by businesses to protect their data, whether it is on-premises or in the cloud.
What Blockchain provides is a new way of storing data and maintaining the highest security through traceability within its core infrastructure – without the need to trust third parties – and with much lower fees. This technology is still evolving and scaling, and ultimately it will reach a point where it will embed itself in the fabric of the Internet, providing a secure way for the exchange of digital information from peer to peer by minimizing intermediaries.
Barracuda is partner at SIT Africa cybersecurity forum in Marrakech
Team members from Barracuda Networks were present and the company was a key Partner at the SIT Africa Forum – ‘The Meeting of African Cybersecurity decision-makers” – from May 17 to 20, 2022 at the Palmeraie Rotana Resort in Marrakech.
According to the organizers’ website, the SIT cybersecurity forum is ‘an unmissable event reserved for major players in cybersecurity’ and it attracts key African CIOs and CISOs each year in a pleasant and friendly setting, in order to discuss projects together.
Back to work face-to-face at SIT Africa in Marrakech. Photo credit – Barracuda Networks
Over four days there was a busy schedule of meetings, conferences and workshops as well as cocktails, evenings and events promoting informal exchange. The 2022 event was set to attract over 600 attendees, including 300 African CIOs/CISOs, and at least 50 partner businesses.
Barracuda presence at the SIT Forum was intended to reinforce its presence in Africa as a global leader in Enterprise Email Security, Application and Cloud Security, Network Security and Data Protection. According to a spokesperson, many customers and partners expressed interest in Barracuda solutions and the company has ambitious plans for the Cybersecurity market in Africa in 2022/2023.
Meeting key partners is one of the great opportunities of events like SIT. From INSOMEA, on the left, M. Nabil Youssef (GM) and second right, Ms Ines Abidi (BDM). From, Barracuda Networks, second left, is Oumaima Agoujil, Sales Engineer, French Speaking Africa and far right, Achraf Gharib, Sales Manager, French Speaking Africa. Photo credit – Barracuda Networks
According to the spokesperson, the Barracuda alliance with Microsoft is an asset, and the company has invested heavily in a variety of different cloud platforms and technologies, including its own Barracuda Cloud. Barracuda is a key security ISV partner for Microsoft Azure, with more Firewalls running in Azure than any other vendor.
“In addition, our latest Cloud-to-Cloud Backup solution is hosted in Azure and was co-developed with Microsoft Azure engineers” said the spokesperson. “We have a huge amount of experience helping companies keep their data safe, both on-premises and in the cloud, having helped thousands transition safely to Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Office 365.”
More about Barracuda Networks
Barracuda strives to make the world a safer place. It believes every business deserves access to cloud-enabled, enterprise-grade security solutions that are easy to buy, deploy, and use. It protects email, networks, data, and applications with innovative solutions that grow and adapt with the customers’ journey. More than 200,000 organizations worldwide trust Barracuda to protect them — in ways they may not even know they are at risk — so they can focus on taking their business to the next level. For more information, visit https://www.barracuda.com/
Mindware Recognized as 2021 Partner of the Year by Juniper Networks
DUBAI, UAE – June 21, 2022 – Mindware, one of the leading Value Added Distributors (VADs) in the Middle East and Africa, today announced that it was recognized as a 2021 Partner of the Year by Juniper Networks, a leader in secure, AI-driven networks.
Each year, Juniper Networks recognizes partners that have demonstrated innovative solutions to driving new business, exceptional attention to customer experience and have overachieved financial goals. Mindware was recognized in the category of Emerging Distribution for its ability to promote, distribute and provide implementation services support across the Middle East for Juniper’s innovative data center and cloud-integrated network solutions.
Partner of the Year Awards are part of the Juniper Partner Advantage Program (JPA). The program not only recognizes partners for their outstanding performance, but also focuses on partner development through specializations, certification and Enterprise Plus and Deal Registration programs that aim to drive opportunity in the AI-driven enterprise.
“We congratulate Mindware and thank them for their commitment to customer service and distribution excellence,” said Saeed Agha, Director of Emerging Markets Channel, Juniper Networks. “Juniper Networks is committed to the long-term success of our distributors in the Middle East region. Mindware’s achievements are a great example of how our partners can team and lead with Juniper to differentiate their services and offer greater business and technical value to partners, delivering the best possible user experiences.”
Speaking about the award, Philippe Jarre, CEO at Mindware commented, “We are excited and proud to have won the award from Juniper, which is testament to Mindware’s commitment to the vendor, our reseller ecosystem and customers. This award further validates our leadership in the value-added distribution space and reflects the fact that we have continued to thrive and support Juniper’s growth objectives in today’s challenging market conditions. We thank Juniper for this recognition and will continue to provide the highest levels of value as we maintain a long-standing, mutually beneficial relationship.”
More about Mindware
As one of the leading distributors of the finest IT products in the Middle East and Africa, Mindware’s extensive portfolio includes top-class global brands reaching out to over 4,000 partners. Mindware’s comprehensive offering includes a selection of infrastructure, networking, security, and storage leading brands. As part of its VAD methodology, Mindware also offers supplementary value-added services to its reselling partners including pre-sales consultancy, implementation services, local technical support, marketing enablement tools, and multiple channel-enabling programs. Headquartered in Dubai UAE since 1991, Mindware has been uncompromisingly serving its customers for more than three decades.
Zsolt Szerémi from iSTYLE presents at Digital-Media Hungary
The first face-to-face edition of the Digital Media Hungary conference since the pandemic outbreak was held at the Azúr Hotel in Siófok, Lake Balaton, on 10-11 May 2022. The iSTYLE Hungary team were represented at the event by Zsolt Szerémi, CRM and Performance Marketing Regional Manager, iSTYLE CEE, who presented about how companies can best exploit the potential of their own databases and how to channel this data into third party interfaces.
Zsolt’s key messages included stressing the need for companies to understand the relationship between first party data and it’s use on external advertisement platforms. He also emphasized how companies need to establish integrated analytical capabilities, which means considering how to match the user’s browsing history data with user profiles within the CRM System.
“It was great to represent iSTYLE within this professional environment. These kinds of events are bringing us together with the best specialists within the market and it is the perfect place to share experiences and improve our practices” said Zsolt after the event.
According to Digital-Media Hungary producer Ákos Csermely, the 2022 edition of the Digital-Media Hungary conference was a huge success, with nearly 2,000 guests following the conference programs on site. As well as the panels and conference keynotes, as a joint project between Digital-Media Hungary and Lounge Group, live stream podcast conversations could be watched and listened to online by those who could not attend the event.
Barracuda welcome new partners at Cyber Africa Forum in Ivory Coast
Barracuda team members met customers and partners face-to-face at the second edition of the Cyber Africa Forum held on May 9 and 10, 2022 at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
During the two days of the event, over 1000 participants attended 23 conference sessions, and 18 hours of live-streamed discussions were broadcasted online. People from at least 40 countries attended the event.
Barracuda participation in CAF was as an invited guest and, during the same week, the team held a partner event with 34 participants where they showcased their partner program and solution portfolio, including email protection, app security and data protection.
The emergence of a strong cybersecurity sector is important as the continent develops digital infrastructure. Photo credit – Barracuda
“This second edition of the Cyber Africa Forum was a huge success,” said a Barracuda company spokesperson. “These two days of debates, exchanges and intense discussions made it possible to better understand the challenges of cybersecurity in Africa and to initiate a real dynamic.”
“The speed of development on the African continent makes it essential to create a strong information systems security structure. Public and private actors must also work on changing mentalities. For this, Africa can count on a large number of organizations which, during CAF 2022, demonstrated their desire to develop the cybersecurity sector in Africa.”
For Barracuda, the event was a successful first face-to-face meeting with African partners and customers for two years. Photo credit – Barracuda
On their LinkedIn profile, the Barracuda team thanked the people behind the successful event for their efforts: “Thank you to the organizers, Ciberobs – Make Africa Safe, for the success of this edition.”
Ciberobs chose an important and topical theme at the core of the event – “Digital sovereignty and data protection: levers of growth for the continent.” As well as business stands and an exhibition, the CAF forum included panel discussions with invited experts and observers.
MDSap Poland co-sponsor Big Data Tech Warsaw Summit
MDSap Poland participated in and co-sponsored the Big Data Tech Warsaw Summit on April 26-28, which took place both online and face-to-face in the Polish city.
The hybrid event began with face-to-face technical workshops on the first day and the main conference on the second and third days, which were in-person and online. 81 speakers took part and an impressive 693 people registered to attend the independently-organized event either online or in real life. Six workshops, three different parallel sessions and two evening meetings kept attendees engaged through the three days of the conference.
Dawid Glowaki – Head of Presales at MDSap Poland – talks about how Incorta Direct Data Platform can change your business. Photo credit – MDSap
Head of Presales Dawid Głowacki presented during the conference about business benefits of the Incorta Direct Data Platform. Click on this link if you would like to know more about how a single fully self-service platform can provide all services orchestrated together to address your analytical needs in action.
In June 2021 MDSap announced a deal with Incorta to expand global go-to-market. The partnership was developed to allow Incorta to address data analytics & business intelligence needs in Middle East, North Africa, Turkey & Eastern Europe. More about the developing relationship between the two companies here.
About MDSap
MDSap has over 25 years of in-depth experiences helping customers manage, integrate, analyze and mobilize business mission critical data across the enterprise. The company has an exceptional track record providing turnkey IT solutions across the Middle East, Turkey & Central Eastern Europe to over 400 enterprise customers and government entities. MDSap is part of the Midis Group and is a member of EPM International and currently operates 10 offices across the Middle East, Turkey and Central Eastern Europe.
HC CENTER leads the Slovenian market with HPE SimpliVity intelligent infrastructure in its HC Cloud
Leading Slovenian system integrator, HC Center, has been enabling fully customizable cloud services under the brand name HC Cloud for more than 10 years. A key success factor in the business has been a partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium. A new case study, just published, tells the story of HC Cloud and the solution with its basis on HPE SimpliVity.
“Having our own cloud services give us a great competitive advantage. We can tailor IT services to end customers business needs and provide IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS models and data backup solution,” explains HC Center CTO Robert Puh. The goal for HC Center is clear—better data protection, availability, and worry-free operations.
HC Cloud infrastructure is based on the new state-of-the-art hyper-efficient HPE SimpliVity solution. According to the Case Study, due to the machine learning predictive analytics of HPE InfoSight, HPE SimpliVity is an intelligent HCI solution. It is optimized for any workload in the virtual environment. The monthly availability of the environment reaches at least 99.98 % and all services in HC Cloud are performed according to ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certification.
As the case study explains, the decision to base HC Cloud upon HPE solutions was not difficult. HPE offered the best solution with integrated data protection, backup, and simplicity of management, clustering, and scalability. On top of that, HC Center has been an HPE partner for many years. In Slovenia, the technical team from Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium helped to plan and design the implementation of the new HC Cloud infrastructure.
“Customers have a different view and approach to IT. Some are very aware how critical IT is for their company existence, successful business operation, and future business development; others see IT only as an unnecessary cost. At HC Center, we emphasize the importance of IT for business excellence and future development” said HC Center CEO Aleksej Kranjec.
With HC Cloud running on HPE SimpliVity, HC Center offer solutions and services that support the customer’s own business processes and increase their business productivity. Among other benefits and facilities, the solution offers the chance for businesses to host their own virtual server or a Microsoft Exchange email server.
They can choose to set up a complete private cloud environment, or hosting of IT infrastructure as a service (IaaS). The facility can be offered as a SaaS solution or a pay-per-use solution for business digitalization. HPE SimpliVity and HC Cloud allow provision for data protection and back up to a remote location and ensure a highly available IT system 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium holds Executive Partner meeting in Nigeria
Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium held a face-to-face Executive Partner Breakfast Meeting on Wednesday April 6, 2022 at The Wheat Baker Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos. The event was an opportunity to introduce a new organizational structure and discuss strategies aimed at helping Partners transform industries, markets and lives.
The event began with a recording of HPE CEO Antonio Neri’s interview where he shared HPE’s latest announcement on HPE GreenLake. This was followed by a welcome from Channel and Marketing Manager Upe Otaru.
Ifee Kojo gives her presentation to the meeting. Photo credit – Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium.
In her turn, Ifee Kojo, Country Manager (Nigeria) for Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium delivered her presentation, ‘CONNECT, CONTAIN AND COMMUNICATE.’ Ifee emphasized key strategies such as delivering everything As-A-Service; the Key Technology Focus for FY22; innovative experience driving HPC growth and complexity in Verticals; the Channel Ecosystem, and the new Learning Experience for Partners.
Channel and Marketing Manager Upe Otaru then presented the challenges of 2021; Post Pandemic and FY22 Outlook; the Channel at a glance and their challenges; setting the record straight; the Partner readiness journey, as well as introducing all members of the new organizational structure.
Channel and Marketing Manager, Upe Otaru, presents to the meeting about the challenges and opportunities for 2022. Photo credit – Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium.
In the Q & A, Country Manager, Ifee Kojo explained the continuing effects of COVID-19 that resulted in business challenges and confirmed that measures were currently being taken to mitigate the situation.
The meeting also included a Certification and Award Session for Partners which was followed by closing remarks made by Hewlett Packard operated by Selectium Head of Sales, Valentine Okoh.
Incorta recognized for first time in recent Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Analytics & BI Platforms
Incorta was recently recognized for the first time in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Analytics & BI Platforms. Incorta was recognized for its ‘Ability to Execute’ and for ‘Completeness of Vision.’
On their website, Incorta had this to say about this important recognition by one of the leaders in Business Intelligence: ‘To us, being recognized as a Niche Player in the ‘2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Analytics and BI Platforms’ is a great fit for Incorta, as our primary focus is delivering high-powered operational analytics with unlimited access to speed and scale.’
In June 2021, Midis Group affiliate MDSapannounced a major agreement with Incorta, allowing both to address data analytics & business intelligence needs in Middle East, North Africa, Turkey & Eastern Europe.
At the time of that agreement, Tony Achkar, Group Managing Director of MDSap, said this: “We’re thrilled to partner with Incorta to bring their state-of-the-art data analytics solution to our enterprise customers.”
“As the Middle East, Turkey and Eastern Europe regions continue to experience rapid digitization, our customers need a modern solution to help them keep up with today’s pace of business. Incorta is allowing them to analyze their data at a level of speed and scale they’ve never seen before.”
K-tuin celebrates its 28th anniversary amidst expansion plans
In 1994 K-tuin opened its first store at 52 Orense Street in Madrid, a place where today, 28 years later, the company continues to welcome their Apple customers. Loyal to K-tuin services and the brand, some of them are still those same Mac enthusiast users of the 90s who bought their first machine there.
Things have changed since the early years…after the Mac came the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad. Apple has evolved a lot since then and K-tuin has been able to adapt to the new times like no one else.
Great products, excellent service, attractive showrooms, experts in B2B and educational services – all part of the K-tuin formula for success. Photo credit – K-tuin
The expansion plan continues to develop steadily; this year K-tuin will be opening more points of sale as well as renewing some of their existing ones. Of course, the success formula has not changed much since the beginning: quality care, exclusive services such as K-tuin school, its online training platform, and a reference Apple space to see, touch and try the latest devices of the brand.
K-tuin was the first Spanish company to become an Apple Premium Reseller, the highest classification among Apple resellers. Photo credit – K-tuin
But K-tuin is not just a retail company, it has become the Spanish market leader providing solutions for Educational organizations and Enterprises. A team of experts dedicated and specialized in the educational sector and B2B are ready to serve and support customer needs.
Celebrating their birthday with their clients, K-tuin are offering all their customers great discounts and exclusive promotions on many of Apple’s most desired products such as the iPhone, the Mac or the Apple Watch, among others, and financing with 0% interest. After all, not many companies can say on their 28th birthday that they have more plans for the future than ever.
More about K-tuin
K-tuin was founded in 1994 by Juan Fabre. This young man from Aragon discovered his passion for technology when the meat management program was computerized in the bar-restaurant where he worked. The first store opened in Madrid and dozens of openings followed. K-tuin was the first Spanish company to become an Apple Premium Reseller, the highest classification among Apple resellers.
Husni Hammoud talks to Tahawultech about ESET new products and solutions at GISEC 2022
Husni Hammoud, Managing Director, ESET Middle East, spoke to Tahawultech.com at GISEC 2022 in a video interview about the company’s participation at the event and the portfolio of solutions the ESET team revealed at the show.
Tahawultech asked Husni about what it means for ESET to be participating at GISEC this year; “This year, we are almost done with the pandemic and we are starting to go out and to meet each other again physically; it’s great to see our partners and our customers and at the same time to see our colleagues face-to-face in one place.”
Husni also mentioned upcoming products in the interview; “Nowadays, everybody is looking at security. ESET is one of the major providers in security and we have a lot of innovation happening. ESET Protect is our new suite and we are moving ahead with a lot of R&D around advanced persistent threats and APT solutions. We’re also going to introduce our ESET Inspect product, an XDR solution that we are very proud of.”
Asked about the continuing threat landscape, Husni re-iterated the ongoing menace of ransomware and identity phishing, which are still common, he says. That means everybody needs a total security solution but that’s one piece of a bigger puzzle, involving perimeter protection, endpoint security, and data classification to secure access.
Husni also points out that, within a company, employee awareness and increased vigilance play a big part in defending against threats. “We need to raise the awareness on to how to work with your employees to ensure that they understand the threat exposure and at the same time to be aware of how to protect their company and their data.”
Securing Cyberspace: Demes Strouthos interviewed at GISEC 2022
Demes Strouthos, General Manager of ESET Middle East talked to Security Advisor ME recently to introduce the company’s presence at GISEC Global 2022, lauded as the Arab world’s unrivalled cybersecurity business event.’
According to Demes, ESET’s APT solutions are witnessing rapid adoption across organizations of all business sizes and industry segments. At GISEC, ESET showcased ESET Inspect, the XDR-enabling component of the ESET PROTECT platform, which is helping enterprises protect against advanced persistent threats, and secures them from zero-day threats and highly targeted malicious attacks.
ESET continues to be recognized by top industry bodies as a leader in the sector. In the interview, Demes was keen to mention the recent 2022 distinction of being named ’Top Player’ in the Radicati Advanced Persistent Threat Market Quadrant for the third time in a row, establishing ESET as a leader amongst European-based security vendors.
Asked about the key threats emerging across the Enterprise landscape, Demes Strouthos identified ransomware as a continuing menace: “Ransomware is still the prime threat that is growing aggressively and surpassed the worst expectations in 2021.” He went on to suggest that over $5bn of Bitcoin transactions were identified as tied to ransomware payments in the first half of 2021 alone.
Responses to the regional and global threat level must include effective digital security solutions, added Demes, but these should be part of a wider cybersecurity posture, including keeping up-to-date with the threat picture, considering EDR strategies in response to new and emerging threats, and keeping employees aware of ‘cyberhygiene’ via effective cybersecurity training.
